Mysterious artists who made a handful of impressive recordings, then completely disappeared from the radar

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB7cztiRTdw

where did the Belgian singer Carol disappear to? she and Snowy Red should've/could've recorded a brilliant Young Marble Giants-esque album together in the early '80s, judging by the quality of their one-off single. her singing on the Rive Gauche single is great too, but I want more.

cher's missing (unregistered), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 01:20 (twelve years ago) link

The Legendary Hassan - only appears on one recording (w/ Max Roach) and it seems like no one knows who the fuck he is.

pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link

great call on Carol!

wonder what happened to "Dorothy" from the self-titled Industrial Records single, "I Confess" is one of Alex Ferguson's hidden gems.

sleeve, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 01:29 (twelve years ago) link

I guess Dorothy was the drummer from Rema Rema and Psychic TV (but she only ever sang on that one single)?

cher's missing (unregistered), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 02:01 (twelve years ago) link

nikki mcclure. still active as an illustrator but as far as i know she quit music completely after a couple fine singles on k.

mark aaron. dude who played the killer guitar leads on cale's sabotage live. gone for good after that sole record i think.

cock chirea, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 08:21 (twelve years ago) link

Don, obviously.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 09:31 (twelve years ago) link

although, more than a handfull obv.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 09:32 (twelve years ago) link

van Vliet? stayed completely radar-accessible, just not making music

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:52 (twelve years ago) link

John Davis, formerly of Folk Implosion

John's doing fine. I'm not sure if he makes music any more; I rated his solo records very high and would love to hear more. But he may have just sort of stopped making music.

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:54 (twelve years ago) link

Well, you'd need an actual radar to locate him, I guess. (xposT)

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:54 (twelve years ago) link

super-lol at first google result for van vliet painting

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:58 (twelve years ago) link

I got a shot of a corridor of a gallery with a DVV painting.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:59 (twelve years ago) link

google, not gis

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 12:37 (twelve years ago) link

I mentioned John Davis as he very abruptly upped and left the music business on the day his last album was released and has never been heard of publicly since.

Peas, Ants, Pigs & Astronauts (PaulTMA), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 12:42 (twelve years ago) link

Henry Grimes... then he came back

R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 12:49 (twelve years ago) link

I mentioned John Davis as he very abruptly upped and left the music business on the day his last album was released and has never been heard of publicly since

well, he did do this, also, after Blue Mountains.

http://www.discogs.com/John-Davis-2-Dennis-Callaci-Room-For-Space-EP/release/430932

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 13:20 (twelve years ago) link

super-lol at first google result for van vliet painting

― ٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 11:58 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I get a link to the "Radar Station" pages of his paintings...

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 13:52 (twelve years ago) link

Ah, this time I get a link to "AllPosters" who are selling a poster of one of his, for £39.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 13:53 (twelve years ago) link

I mentioned John Davis as he very abruptly upped and left the music business on the day his last album was released and has never been heard of publicly since

well, he did do this, also, after Blue Mountains.

http://www.discogs.com/John-Davis-2-Dennis-Callaci-Room-For-Space-EP/release/430932

That's from 1996 though - he had quite a few solo releases before exiting from music, apparently on One Part Lullabye's release date.

Peas, Ants, Pigs & Astronauts (PaulTMA), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 14:22 (twelve years ago) link

Maybe Cornelius? What the hell has he been doing lately?

frogbs, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 14:38 (twelve years ago) link

Henry Grimes... then he came back

True, but he was on more than a handful of records (around 15-20, maybe more) before he left the scene.

Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 14:42 (twelve years ago) link

LOL @ someone named "The Legendary Hassan" being known (???) for being on a single recording and never heard from again.

Is DJ Yella still active?

If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 14:58 (twelve years ago) link

The way jazz dudes work, 15-20 is a handful, isn't it?

Also...Shuggie Otis

Steamtable Willie (WmC), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 14:59 (twelve years ago) link

Normally, yes, but this is 15-20 records in only 10 years.

Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 15:13 (twelve years ago) link

LOL @ someone named "The Legendary Hassan" being known (???) for being on a single recording and never heard from again.

The Amazing Randy to thread.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 15:15 (twelve years ago) link

Erik Voeks - one great power pop lp - sandbox - in 1993. a single or two thereafter. then ran a record store in the midwest. has been playing live as of recent but still no recorded ouput since!

jimmy_chop, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 19:03 (twelve years ago) link

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/42/64/4264054051-1.jpg
Connie Converse disappeared in 1974, leaving behind a haunting body of recorded music that would remain virtually unheard for the next 35 years... Written through the 1950's, Connie's cache of original material instantly reveals itself to be uniquely inspired and years ahead of its time.

ilher so much

Turangalila, Wednesday, 9 November 2011 19:39 (twelve years ago) link

whatever happened to bill withers? i think i heard he became a carpenter, maybe?

GOIT BUZZ TOYS (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 19:55 (twelve years ago) link

I dunno if having a major documentary made about you in the last few years counts as "completely disappeared"

but yes he ran a construction company for awhile

The Uncanny Frankie Valley (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 19:56 (twelve years ago) link

Had not heard of Connie Converse until this moment, and this is fantastic -- thanks!

Blue Doggie Sweater (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 9 November 2011 20:16 (twelve years ago) link

I get a link to the "Radar Station" pages of his paintings...

PROVING INCONTROVERTIBLY that he stayed ACCESSIBLE BY RADAR when he moved into painting do you see

Is DJ Yella still active?

famously became a porn director after NWA, the adjective excluding him from this no matter what he's doing now

(also how many NWA records is he actually on?)

(I think he was on some of Eazy's solo stuff too though btw etc)

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Thursday, 10 November 2011 00:47 (twelve years ago) link

Kid 'N Play

Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:14 (twelve years ago) link

If by "completely disappeared" you mean "released more records, had FOUR feature films, a Saturday morning cartoon, a Marvel comic, and still do the occasional reunion show or TV nostalgia appearance," then absolutely! but I'm not sure everyone else is quite operating under those criteria

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:31 (twelve years ago) link

tugboat

mookieproof, Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:38 (twelve years ago) link

Q Lazzarus

Ask The Answer Man (sexyDancer), Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:53 (twelve years ago) link

david baker

cock chirea, Thursday, 10 November 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link

for almost forty years max ochs entire recorded output consisted of two tracks on a compilation record. they are pretty fn good though.

plax (ico), Thursday, 10 November 2011 02:10 (twelve years ago) link

there are probably a bunch of these on the Nurse With Wound list, like the amazing Sand.

sleeve, Thursday, 10 November 2011 02:34 (twelve years ago) link

Jim Sullivan

city worker, Thursday, 10 November 2011 02:39 (twelve years ago) link

(also how many NWA records is he actually on?)

good enough for me:

Jerry Heller witnessed Dre and Yella's work together and wrote in 2006 of an almost eerie understanding between the pair, as they crafted high quality beats and productions with almost no words or full sentences needing to be spoken.[citation needed]

٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Thursday, 10 November 2011 02:46 (twelve years ago) link

Pianist Lowell Davidson. Made one (insanely brilliant and flawless) record in 1965 for ESP-Disk with Gary Peacock and Milford Graves, never made any other recordings, not even as a sideman. Died in the late 80s. Graves has said that the record only hints at what Davidson was capable of live, and that Richard Davis, replacing Peacock for live dates, was an unbelievably perfect foil for Davidson.

Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Thursday, 10 November 2011 03:16 (twelve years ago) link

Maybe Cornelius? What the hell has he been doing lately?

Saw him last year playing in Yoko Ono's band

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 10 November 2011 04:17 (twelve years ago) link

marissa marchant

buzza, Thursday, 10 November 2011 04:30 (twelve years ago) link

lock thread

sleeve, Thursday, 10 November 2011 04:57 (twelve years ago) link

I have to add the Jamaican stripper, Margarita (I've also seen it spelled Marguerita), who was the girlfriend of Don Drummond (one of the Skatalites and among the all-time Jamaican musical greats.) Apparently, they had some stabbing game that functioned as sexual foreplay, and as these things will, it got out of hand and Margarita bed to death. Drummond was later incarcerated. She sang only one song on record, the amazing "Woman A Come," which has to be heard to be believed.

crustaceanrebel, Thursday, 10 November 2011 07:02 (twelve years ago) link

wilderness.

Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 10 November 2011 14:40 (twelve years ago) link

Les Rallizes Dénudés kind of fit here, no? No-one knows what Mizutani is up to these days.

ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 10 November 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link

I thought he's spending his days converting tapes to CDR and mailing them to Volcanic Tongue?

city worker, Thursday, 10 November 2011 16:12 (twelve years ago) link

Cornelius did a song for the Scott Pilgrim movie, the one the Katayanagi Twins play at the battle of the bands.

dreamleaf, sparkleroot, basilisk venom tinctures (reddening), Thursday, 10 November 2011 16:31 (twelve years ago) link

I should have said that her song was *a* probable source, since he did change some of it, and as was pointed out to her online, "You can't copyright a chord progression." (Or a Q & A format re the lyrical pattern.) Anyway, nobody ever lifted nothin' from "Mean World Blues," far as I know: it's too all-to-itself for that, passing though.

dow, Monday, 22 September 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link

How about Ronnie Singer- legendary jazz guitarist who committed suicide along with his wife at the age of 25 in 1953, leaving behind no official recordings, but only one heavily bootlegged live excerpt?

http://ronniesinger.blogspot.com/

rushomancy, Tuesday, 23 September 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link

Bizzy Bone has released something like 20 solo albums (the latest in 2012), plus obviously he was on the best-known Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony albums, so I wouldn't really say he was a mysterious artist or that disappeared after a handful of recordings.

Of course, like I said, but he dropped off pretty hard, pretty quick granted the substances etc caught up though. All those solos after The Gift are all just cheap throwaways essentially, by a rapper sounding nothing like who he was in the 90s.

Raccoon Tanuki, Tuesday, 23 September 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link

"got shitty" is kind of fundamentally different from "completely disappeared from the radar"

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 23 September 2014 21:05 (nine years ago) link

Robert Plant in the 80s thread got me wondering about what happened to guitarist Robbie Blunt. Aside from a tiny number of YouTubes he's dropped out of sight.

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 23 September 2014 21:48 (nine years ago) link

one year passes...

I am the recording artist John Scoggins from the album Pressed For Time> I did not disappear plus you gossiping old ladies don't seem to know where to search for the actual John Scoggins, jes. you go on google and there's like hundreds of john scoggins's that are NOT ME. Go to UTUBE, and ITUNES, You'l find the Actual artist John Scoggins is alive and well and still making and releasing Music. There,s currently an original album vinyl on EBAY right now JAN> 2016 BUT probably not for long, music on Warner music on ITUNES, Amazon and every other digital site AND NEW Music on UTUBE> god search for a musician on music sites Google will just give you all sorts of people with the same name that ain't me.

John Scoggins, Monday, 18 January 2016 16:58 (eight years ago) link

lol

dyl, Monday, 18 January 2016 17:03 (eight years ago) link

I am the recording artist John Scoggins from the album Pressed For Time> I did not disappear plus you gossiping old ladies don't seem to know where to search for the actual John Scoggins, jes. you go on google and there's like hundreds of john scoggins's that are NOT ME. Go to UTUBE, and ITUNES, You'l find the Actual artist John Scoggins is alive and well and still making and releasing Music. There,s currently an original album vinyl on EBAY right now JAN> 2016 BUT probably not for long, music on Warner music on ITUNES, Amazon and every other digital site AND NEW Music on UTUBE> god search for a musician on music sites Google will just give you all sorts of people with the same name that ain't me.

― John Scoggins, Monday, January 18, 2016 4:58 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

John Scoggins, Monday, 18 January 2016 17:05 (eight years ago) link

whoa

global tetrahedron, Monday, 18 January 2016 18:21 (eight years ago) link

welcome back!

Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 18 January 2016 18:43 (eight years ago) link

checkin out scogg on UTUBE, sounds good!

tylerw, Monday, 18 January 2016 18:44 (eight years ago) link

you gossiping old ladies

lol, fair assessment

small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Monday, 18 January 2016 18:51 (eight years ago) link

so do you, like, hoard sealed copies of Pressed for Time and put one up on ebay about every 6 months and then just sit back and watch the bids roll in? that's what I'd do if I were rare private press psych folk powerpop recording artist John Scoggins.

I, too, listened to one of your songs on UTUBE, and it sounds great! any chance of a reissue?

small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Monday, 18 January 2016 18:58 (eight years ago) link

"i did not disappear you gossiping old ladies" would be a good board description

Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 18 January 2016 19:18 (eight years ago) link

one-time King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir probably belongs here

frogbs, Monday, 18 January 2016 19:20 (eight years ago) link

George Murray, Bowie's brilliant bassist in the last half of the 70s. Last seen on a Jerry Harrison solo album and then apparently got out of the music business entirely.

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 18 January 2016 21:45 (eight years ago) link

i wish someone would reissue those Shelagh McDonald records mentioned above. or re-reissue them in an easy/affordable way.

scott seward, Monday, 18 January 2016 22:01 (eight years ago) link

yes! was just trying to track down some of her stuff recently and it seemed like even the early 00s comp was pretty pricey.

tylerw, Monday, 18 January 2016 22:01 (eight years ago) link

George Murray, Bowie's brilliant bassist in the last half of the 70s. Last seen on a Jerry Harrison solo album and then apparently got out of the music business entirely.

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, January 18, 2016 9:45 PM (24 minutes ago)


Yeah, this guy is great and I was never really aware of him before this weekend. A little embarrassed to say I overlooked him because 1) I thought Carmine Rojas played a lot of those parts instead and 2) I probably got a little mixed-up confusion from Dee Murray of Elton John's band.

Blecchstar Linus Must Comp (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 January 2016 22:12 (eight years ago) link

i suppose there are a billion of those old blues guys out there, but bayless rose.

diana krallice (rushomancy), Monday, 18 January 2016 22:57 (eight years ago) link


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